Loaf Breads – The Best School Lunches start with Homemade Sandwich Bread!

It is now what I consider “sandwich season.” Some may call it “back to school,” “end of summer” or even “fall,” but to me it is the season when I have to come up with a million types of sandwiches and other lunches to keep my boys from growing up on PB&J alone! Although school lunches have come a long way since I was a kid, they still leave much to be desired and are mostly to be avoided.

To start I need the perfect loaf of bread. My boys want a loaf that looks and feels like what all the other kids are eating; square and soft. They love crusty bread, but not on their sandwiches, especially not PB&J. To achieve just the right sandwich loaf I have slightly altered what we do in the book.

I start by weighing a 2-pound piece of dough (large cantaloupe-size) on my Scale. I used the Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread on page 78 of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day-2007 (now out of print), or on page 137 of The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, 2013. But you can use any of the doughs from our books in a loaf pan.

Let the dough rise in a well greased non-stick 8 1/2 x 4 1/2- inch Loaf Pan, covered loosely with plastic wrap for 1 hour and 40 minutes (or just 60 minutes if you are using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).

20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. I don’t use any steam, because I don’t want a crisp crust, but you are welcome to do so.You will also notice that this is slightly cooler than we say in the book. This is so that I get a nice soft crust and because I will be baking it longer.

Bake the loaf for about 60 minutes. Flip the loaf out of the pan and allow to cool before cutting it and making your favorite sandwiches. (If the loaf sticks to the pan, just allow it to sit in the pan for several minutes. It will steam around the sides and release itself from the pan. If the sides feel soggy after this, return it to the oven for just a few minutes.)

I have problems with loaf ”splitting” and I am not alone.I am testing my oven for unbalanced element in my 14 year old stove. Trying better shaping and regular yeast rather than SAS. Bread is fine just the split crust. Will try this new posting. Thanks arcy

the only way to avoid random splitting is to slash the dough about 1/4-inch deep. This will allow it to open with purpose and design, rather than splitting open as the dough pleases. Sometimes if you are getting crazy splitting in the dough it means that it is not resting enough before going in the oven.

Definitely check your oven for accurate temperature, but then also try slashing and resting longer.

The tapenade was intended to go right into the dough. Having said that you can always add it to a dough that you already have. It would be really great done like this: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=890

I hope this post helps with your sandwich loaves, let us know if you have any other questions!

I’ve a ? about TAPENADE BREAD (pg 55). I’m confused about adding the tapenade. Is it incorporated when making the dough?
Is it swirled in?
I can’t figger it out. Many thanks. I love tapenade & I think this might be perfect to bring along w/ red pepper fougasse & goat cheese for a meeting where I’m to provide “a little something”.

Having bread for my daughter’s lunches is one of the big reasons why I started baking all my own bread back in January. B prefers small rolls or mini bagels to sandwich bread though. I use a variety of recipes (I’m also doing the BBA Challenge), but the ABin5 dough method definitely helps me keep fresh bread on hand a lot of the time.

As a parent of teenagers who run out the door at 7AM for school, I find that they often are able and willing to grab PBJs on whole wheat from me. Do you have any great variations on this? We sometimes use sunflower butter and sprinkle in crushed flax seeds.

This is excellent, thank you! I’ve been baking a 2 lb loaf at 450 for 35 min which works most of the time. But if I make a loaf with fresh dough (not put in the fridge), the top of the loaf will be overcooked and dry. This should solve the problem. Yum!

LOVE the picture of your son! And he is eating HEALTHY foods, that’s great.

I’m trying to figure out why sometimes people use a 9×5 loaf pan, and other times people use the 81/2 x 4 1/2- inch loaf pan. Can you please explain why you chose the smaller size pan for this loaf? THANKS. Judy

We just chose the pan based on the most commonly used loaf pan. It turns out that most people bake with the 8.5×4.5 size pans. If you want to bake in your larger pan, you will need to increase the amount of dough (fill it about 3/4 way full).

Thank you, I think my son is pretty cute too. You do know that Jeff and I are not married, just partners in baking.

I was actually curious if one could adapt the very same bread recipe for this bread into a hamburger/hot dog bun? I work in a bakery here in MN as a baker’s helper. I’ve watched the bakers make buns with pressure and circular motions. Can you do the same with these recipes even though it’s no-knead?

The dough works wonderfully as hamburger or hot dog buns, it is all in the shaping. I tend to use the enriched doughs like brioche or challah for this type of bun, but the buttermilk dough is great as well. Here is a post I did about shaping buns, but for hamburger buns I’d start with 3 or 4 ounces (not 2). For hamburger buns you want them to be a bit flatter and for hot dogs you want to elongate the dough into a baguette shape before resting.

Zoe and Jeff,
I recently had wonderful mocha pastry roll at an Asian bakery shop (it is called 85C, in Irvine, CA apparently it is a famous chain in Taiwan). It had a mocha taste in the dough and it had walnuts and a creamy buttery filling, like a cinnamon roll with mocha taste and walnut filling.
I have been there 5 times this year, as we drive through that town on our way from Northern CA to San Diego, and every time there were lines out the shop waiting for that bread. It was amazing, I was wondering if you have experimented adding coffee to the brioche dough, I wanted to start experimenting using instant cofee, however not sure how much should I use, and the dough was sweeter than the ones in AB5, so not sure what will happen if I add more sugar to the dough, or should I just sprinkle it. Just wondering if you had any experience with this.

That bread does sound amazing! I’d start with about 1 tablespoon instant powdered coffee in a full batch of brioche. You can increase from there if the taste is not intense enough for you. I’d try leaving the dough as is and just layering on the sweetness in the filling. If it is still not sweet enough for you, then try adding about 1/4 cup of sugar to the dough. I don’t think it will adversely effect the dough, but much more than that will require monkeying with the hydration!

Have fun and be sure to let me know how it goes and send me the recipe you come up with!

Hi guys, I love the idea behind this book. when you say to mix and store the dough in a large plastic container with a lid, you then say it should not be airtight. do you mean to leave the lid a bit askew or do something like poke holes in the lid. To me if I put the lid on all the way it becomes airtight. Please help. thanks.

You can either leave the lid a tiny bit askew (just enough for the gases to escape) or poke a tiny hole in the lid. I have some buckets with holes and they work wonderfully, for the others I leave them askew, with equally good results.

Mrs TS: Any of the recipes that call for whole wheat should work well with home-ground stuff, though the result will be different because home-ground is usually coarser (though that depends on your grinder). “Hard” wheat (sometimes referred to as “red”) is higher in protein so you may have to increase the water slightly if it’s a high whole wheat recipe. Jeff

Hi Zoe and Jeff. I bought the book 3 weeks ago and have loved everything I have made so far. I am currently making the recipe in this post for my kids’ lunches and have found that I can only get about 3 pound of dough. I have made the recipe 4 times now and each time I get no more than 3 or 3 1/4 pounds which makes 2 loaves. Is there something else I should be doing? I am also wondering if it freezes well once baked. Thanks for your help. I can’t wait for the next book and 2 of my friends have bought the current book after tasting the proof!
Robyn

Thank you for trying the bread, we are glad that you are enjoying it! We wrote the book using 1 1/2-pound loaves for sandwich breads and have discovered that most people want a slightly larger loaf. In this post I have you using 2 pounds which means you may not have enough dough for a few loaves. The recipes are easily doubled if you find that you are going through them too quickly!

zoe & joe, been hearing about the book forever and finally got my hands on a copy! trying to master the master recipe, for some reason it doesn’t seem to rise much after the gluten cloak, i tried resting longer, resting in a warmer place, tried a second batch wetter … not sure what the problem may be. the small little dense loaves have been yummy, but would be nice to get a bigger, hole-ier loaf!

Our dough never really “rises” much before going into the oven, instead we see a tremendous oven “spring” as it bakes. Here is a post about loaves with a dense crumb that may be helpful to you: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=141

It sounds like you have tried many of the tips that I mention. The one thing many bakers do with our dough is to over handle it. It is very important to handle it as little as possible when shaping. It should really only take about 20-30 seconds to form a loaf with a very gentle touch. The idea is to maintain all of the gas bubbles that have developed as it was rising in the bucket.

Wow! We just cut into our holiday round raisin challah and it is amazing. I was worried about using the Fleishmans margarine instead of butter but it turned out beautifully. Just one question: It shows rolling up the raisins from the short edge of the rectangle. What would happen if I rolled it from the long side?

So glad that your challah came out well with the margarine. If you roll the dough from the long end you will have a much longer log of dough to wind up. It will have a different aesthetic, but will be equally as tasty! Try it and be sure to let us know how it goes!

Just coincidentally I baked a loaf in a loaf tin this morning. I hadnt read this post but it worked out that I pretty much did the same as you suggested. Only difference was I used a basic ‘master’ dough (same amount about 2lb) and let it rest in a buttered loaf pan in the fridge overnight. It baked in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes but the last 10 mins I tipped the loaf out of the tin and replaced it in the oven. Absolutely brilliant result.

Hi Zoe and Jeff. I have a recipe request. I lost a recipe I was going to modify using your dough. It was for an apple calzone. It cooked the apples before putting them in the dough. Since it is apple season I was hoping it might be something you could think about. Thanks for all the great recipes.

Beth: I’m guessing that you can sprinkle the apples with some cinnamon-sugar (about a tablespoon of sugar and a quarter-teaspoon of cinammon, then just roll them in. I’m not sure you really need to cook the apples first— in the new book we have a recipe for apple challah that starts with raw cubed apple (1/2-inch cubes) and they soften nicely in the bread. Jeff

thanks zoe for the quick response – did a new batch and tried to handle it for no more than 5 secs … also let it rest longer and i found a nice big hole (albeit just one) in the resulting loaf … going to keep on trying … could it be that i’m overmixing the ingredients (i’m using a KA stand mixer instead of mixing by hand)?

also i don’t have any plastic buckets big enough to hold the dough, would a stock pot work? that way my mixer bowl isn’t held hostage by the dough (although it’s usually gone by day 3)? thanks again, loving reading all the helpful tips on your site!

Jay: So long as you’re using the mixer BEFORE the initial rise, I can’t imagine that would be a problem. But see what happens if you minimize that, or mix by hand. Other question– any chance you are using bleached flour, rather than unbleached? That doesn’t work at all well in our recipes.

hey jeff, i just mixed one by hand, let’s see what happens .. i may indeed be using bleached flour … and i know to buy unbleached when i go through my tub … although from what i read, bleached flour usually leads to a wetter mess … me, i’m already down to 6 cups flour and i’m still seeing flour at the bottom of the bowl/pot. i’m in vancouver, canada, where it’s rather humid … so you’d think the dough wouldn’t be dry, but regardless my friends seem to be very happy that they’re all of a sudden getting fresh bread!

I’ve been making lots of sandwich loaves with the boule recipe. I recently covered the pan loosely with tinfoil, baked at 450 for 30 minutes, then removed the foil, added steam, and baked for another 30 minutes. The crust and the bread was amazing, a rich, caramel color. However, the inside was still undercooked and a little sticky, good, but not quite there. Should I increase the temperature or the time? Since the outside looked and tasted so amazing, I am trying to preserve that part…

Do you have an oven thermometer? It sounds as though your oven may be a bit off if the loaf is still not baked after an hour in the oven.

The steam is used to create a shine on the dough and to allow the top crust to soften and expand, generally this is only done during the first 10-15 minutes of baking. Chances are that the steam is not adding much to the process if you are doing it at the second half of the baking.

Are you covering the loaf with foil to prevent burning or to trap the internal steam?

Are you letting the loaf cool completely before slicing? The cooling of the loaf allows the excess moisture to escape and set the crumb of the bread. If you cut it while it is still warm it will be gummy on the inside.

I hope this helps. Thank you for trying the dough and writing to us with your process! Zoë

My pan is smaller and I used 1.5 lbs of dough because that much filled the pan 2/3 full. I let it rise and bake with your times and I think it overbaked. It overflowed the pan and I had to cut around it to get it out (the pan was greased but who would have thought to grease the top). Anyway, the bread was difficult to cut – it kept breaking into two pieces. Next time I will definitely use less dough but should I stay at the same temp and decrease the bake time? If so, when would be a good time to start checking it?

Were you using the whole wheat dough? It is quite uncharacteristic for the dough to overflow the pan. What size pan was it? If you are using the mini loaf pans then you need to decrease the amount of dough and the baking times. Let me know what size the pan is and what kind of dough and I’ll help you figure out the baking time.

Do you use an oven thermometer? This will be essential to make sure your loaves are not over baking!

Thank you!!! This is the one thing I have not reliably been able to do, is make sandwich bread that my kids will accept is sandwich bread. I am going to try it with these adjustments and see how we go!

I bought the book and tried out the basic dough (halved it) for the first time. I was really excited and I’m a good baker, but the dough became dry. I left in the fridge for 3 days before baking it. I baked it but it came out kind of raw and dry. (I still need to buy an oven thermometer). I think the book specified a non-airtight container. Is there something else I could be doing wrong?

The bucket should be closed, just not air tight. If there is too much air circulating in the bucket a skin may develop on the dough.

Is the dough feel as though it has a skin or is it too tight, as in not enough water? It may be helpful to watch our video and compare your dough to what we are using. If it looks the same as ours, then it may be a matter of the oven temperature or other baking issues. After you watch the video, let me know if that is helpful!

Hello, I wonder whether this question is already answered on your site somewhere and I can’t see it, but… is there a maximum resting time for loaves after shaping and before baking? For example if I put a loaf from the master recipe or even a brioche out last thing before bedtime, to cook in the morning, would that work okay?

It is possible to “over-proof” stored dough breads. You’ll know you went too far when free-form loaves have spread too far sideways and have flattened. In loaf pans, they rise, then over-rise, then collapse. Risk is a too-dense bread, but there’s nothing awful about it. Generally, you can go 90 minutes or a little more and the result is great. Some people have preferred our stuff a little more rested, like 90 minutes.

I am using the smaller pans – measure about 9×5 – almost 3″ tall. I have used them before (successfully but too much crust for my SO) for the 100% ww recipe, which I tried here. My oven temp is correct. I think I overproofed it. I probably need less dough and an ajustment on temp and baking time. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

If your dough is coming up and over the pan with a 1.5-pound loaf in a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan you may be over proofing the dough. Does it have any oven spring when you are baking it, does it get any taller? Or does it collapse? Are you baking at a high altitude by any chance?

Most people have the opposite experience with the 100% whole wheat dough, it usually doesn’t even reach the top of the pan when using that much dough. Your bread has me very curious!?

I am in Des Plaines, IL – very flat land. I think I overproofed it. I’ve been playing with the recipe since day 1 so I know what you mean about ww problems not rising. This one was at the top of the pan when I stuck it in the oven and then it went about an inch higher. I have ordered a bigger pan but it’s not shipping until Nov so I’d like to try this again in the smaller pan, if possible. I think 1 lb. instead of 1.5 lbs of doubh would work. Can you suggest times for proofing and baking and also temp. My goal (I know, I know, it’s contrary to the basic philosophy of the book *G*) is to get a softer crust so I can get John to eat it instead of the (fill in bad word here) that he buys at the supermarket.

I have done that in the past. It’s a little better. I find that wrapping it in a towel after taking it out of the pan works also. I had hoped that these new instructions might work even better. I compared them to the original recipe and the difference is in the baking time/temp. I have some rising right now. I am going to try baking it longer at a lower temp and see what that does. I let you know. Thanks.

Suzan: Interesting— we recommend that towel-wrapping trick to keep our pita breads soft (http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=518). Never tried it on a loaf bread but sounds like a good strategy. Let us know about your longer slower bake… Jeff

Hi Zoe and Jeff,
Greetings from Westen Austraia. This is my first time posting on your blog. I’ve been lurking for a while learning from you and everyone else and of course waiting for my copy of your book to arrive. So far I’ve tried the Master Recipe and today, the WW Sandwich bread. I’m gobsmacked as to how good this loaf tastes – the crumb is so moist and tender with nice big holes in it. I don’t think I can justify buying another commercially made loaf (sorry but except for a sourdough loaf from my local baker :)) after trying this recipe. I can’t wait to try the other recipes. I’m now definitely pre ordering your next book. Thanks again.

Jo: Welcome to the site, love hearing from people overseas. Assume you meant Australia, not Austria (see typo); where are you getting the book in Austrailia, someone asked us and we weren’t clear on where to send them. Jeff

Hi Jeff, sorry for the typo. I am from Australia. I usually get my books online these days. I find the UK based website called The Book Depository really good with competitive prices and fast shipping. Fishpond is also quite good. (I actually pre-ordered your book through them.) I think they are affiliated with Amazon Books. I would have ordered from Book Depository if they had the hardback edition of your new book. Subsequently, you can make your books available through Borders.

I’ve seen posts from other parts of Australia and New Zealand and I would have to agree that doing a book tour Down Under is an excellent idea. We may be a smaller country (population wise) when compared to the US but I think we’re a fantastic foodie nation and you’ll definitely generate a lot of interest.

I’ve been using your buttermilk loaf recipe the last few weeks – I use 1/2 recipe for one big loaf and they have been coming out great. To help the overhandling issue, I divide the dough in two and form two balls to drop in the pan. It gets a custom look (butt crack?) but I find it easier to deal with than a big ball of dough. Substituting 1/3 ww flour was fine too.
Thanks – we are enjoying sandwich loaves over hard crusts right now.

Hi Zoe and Jeff,
I tried the sandwich bread this weekend and I used the light whole wheat recipe. I had tried the sandwich bread instructions in the book before and I wasn’t too thrilled with the results. But these instructions worked great! I have to admit that I thought baking the bread for one hour sounded a little long. When I took the finished loaf out of the oven, it was very hard and I got a little nervous, but as the loaf cooled the crust softened a bit and the result was delicious. Thanks again!!! Simple and delicious.

Hi! I LOVE the book and have used it for pizza, panetonne, hot cross buns, and sandwich bread. I have found that my sandwich bread ends up pretty dense. After reading all your posts (thanks so much for responding to people -wow a rarity these days!) and wonder if I’m not over-proofing? The bread doesn’t rise very much on the counter and then doesn’t rise in the oven either. I live at 3,000 feet so not exactly high altitude, but I wonder if I should change anything? I have also found my brioche dough turns out kinda dry. Any tips for better texture?
Many thanks again for your book and helpful tips and comments!

Sara: You’re not technically high-altitude, but maybe that’s the first thing I’d try. See our post on this at http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=144. If none of those suggestions help, check back with us here. Over-proofing can happen when you go longer than about 90 minutes (60 minutes if it’s warm), but maybe in your environment? Jeff

Kathryn: Although we don’t promote any bread as “low-carbohydrate,” there choices in our new book that are lower in carbs than others. Specifically, we have a 100% spelt bread, and any of the 100% whole grain breads are going to be lower in carbs than breads made with white flour. Just be careful not to see whole grain bread as a low-calorie food– it’s not really lower in calories than white bread, it’s just that the calories are coming from a better source (eg., wheat germ, which is high in healthy oils).

Spelt, a wheat variety, is higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates than regular wheat.

According to the American Diabetes Association, whole grain foods are thought to decrease the risk of developing diabetes, presumably because of their lower glycemic index. Jeff

You can par-bake the loaves. Just bake them about 90% of the way, so they are not quite brown, but fully baked. Allow the loaf to cool completely and then wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze. On the day you bake all you want to do it to crisp up and brown the crust when you put it back in the oven. Allow the bread to defrost on the counter while you are preheating the oven, about 30 minutes. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the crust is brown. All of this is talked about in more detail on page 24 of ABin5.

Hey, Zoe and Jeff! I am so excited to use your book! I made my first batch of dough yesterday (the day HBin5 came in the mail). I just made the Master whole wheat loaf dough. I decided to make the sandwich bread from page 62, since I thought it’d be the most eaten in my home and I don’t want to waste and have my dough go bad before eating up all the bread. I followed the directions. my result was a really hard, almost too hard (yet not overly dark), crust, but a really dense, not very airy crumb. Plus, the crumb feels a little cool and almost moist to the touch now that I’ve cut into the cooled loaf. Is it underbaked? I just read it could’ve been the King Arthur brand flour I used. What did I do wrong?? I want beautiful sandwich bread. Is the rest of the batch of dough ruined? …Also, I didn’t have an oven thermometer yet. I was a little anxious to start baking.